1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical image processing device and a medical image processing method that are suitable for detecting a lesion candidate region from a medical image to detect a lesion such as a polyp.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, endoscopes have been widely used, for example, for medical examination and diagnosis in the field of medical treatment.
In such cases, the physician inserts the insertion portion of the endoscope inside a body cavity such as the colon of the patient to pick up images inside the body cavity using image pickup means provided at the distal end portion of the insertion portion. The physician performs endoscopy such as an examination or diagnosis of a lesion such as a polyp by observing the endoscopic images that are displayed on a monitor. In this case, since it is desirable that the physician causes little pain or distress to the patient and also performs endoscopy smoothly, the burden on the physician increases.
Therefore, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-180932 as a first example of the prior art discloses an arrangement in which lesion candidates for the same region of interest are detected by a first image diagnosis apparatus comprising an X-ray CT apparatus or the like and a second image diagnosis apparatus such as an X-ray TV apparatus, respectively. A detection result in which these two detection results are compared and combined is then shown to the physician. It is thereby possible to prevent an oversight by the physician.
Further, as a second example of the prior art, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-192880 discloses an image processing method that detects a lesion candidate region from an endoscopic image based on color tone information.
In images in which the inside of a body cavity is optically observed, such as in endoscopic images, since color information can also be obtained, it is desirable to also utilize the color information for lesion detection and the like.
The second example of the prior art is arranged to utilize color information and contour information to detect hemorrhaging and reddening as well as elevations and concavities and the like.